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Empty shops revival plan to prevent high street decline

Published	14 April 2009

Temporarily converting empty shops into social enterprises, local art displays or learning centres will help innovative communities prevent high streets declining said Communities Secretary Hazel Blears today.

Ms Blears is chairing a seminar in Stockport with Culture Secretary Andy Burnham on tackling 'recession in the high street' with councils, business leaders, landlords and town centre managers.

The Government is also announcing new measures and up to £3m to help communities find creative ways to reduce the negative impact empty shops have on the high street - vital for town centre and business confidence.

The new provisions including special planning application waivers, standard interim-use leases, and temporarily leasing shops to councils will allow empty shops to get makeovers for use as cultural, community or learning services.

Chorley plan to set up a semi-permanent exhibition because of how popular turning empty shops into craft exhibitions, informal learning, and summer music workshops have proved.

An empty shop in Dewsbury was recently converted into a police and community centre, enabling local people to get fire or crime prevention advice and information on Sure Start, 'community safety rangers', and housing.

Many successful start-up businesses have also begun this way. For example Neal's Yard Remedies, the international cosmetics company, was started by Romy Fraser in a disused warehouse in Covent Garden in 1981.

Councils can also use licensing powers positively to permit things like farmers markets that bring local produce to the high street. North Lincolnshire District Council started a monthly market that revitalised the high street at weekends.

These measures are being published in a practical guide Looking after our Town Centres identifies the best ways and steps communities can take to keep town centres thriving.

The Government will introduce new rules soon to give existing shops that serve the community such as local post offices and pubs extra protections. These steps are part of wider action to help business during the downturn.

Hazel Blears said:

"Town centres are the heartbeat of every community and businesses are the foundation so it is vital that they remain vibrant places for people to meet and shop throughout the downturn.

"Empty shops can be eyesores or crime magnets. Our ideas for reviving town centres will give communities the know how to temporarily transform vacant premises into something innovative for the community - a social enterprise, a showroom for local artists or an information centre - and stop the high street being boarded up.

"Our town centre first planning rules and business rate deferments are also helping small businesses in more direct ways during this difficult time."

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said:

"Culture and creativity are part of the answer to tough economic times. Liverpool's success as European Capital of Culture showed what culture can do to build people and places and create a sense of confidence and pride. I believe that, now more than ever, we should play to our strengths as a creative nation.

"Nobody wants to see town centres fade and decay. By transforming otherwise empty town centre premises into hubs for culture and creativity, we can regenerate both the physical space itself and the hope and ambition of all those that have a stake in them. And in the longer term, by giving people the opportunity to develop we stand a good chance of creating something of lasting benefit, not just for those individuals but also for our economy as we move out of this recession."

Skills Secretary John Denham added:

"We want to make sure that our town and city centres continue to be vibrant and at the heart of our communities. In our recent White Paper, the 'Learning Revolution' Government laid out how it will continue to support informal adult learning which we know has benefits beyond the pleasure of learning in its self.  

"We don't want to see space such as unused shops on our high streets go to waste, especially when we know that people can put that space to good use for meeting up and learning for fun. Today's revival plan will give our communities the tools they need to reinvigorate unused space".

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

"Town centres should be the heart of a community and the public have a right to feel safe as they go about their business. For the first time every town centre now has its own neighbourhood policing team and the new Policing Pledge entitles the public to demand action on local issues that matter to them. I encourage everyone to get involved with their local neighbourhood policing team and help to improve their town centres."

Notes to editors

1. Special planning application waivers: Local Development Orders allow councils to grant planning permission or set local permitted development and change of use rules. New legislation will mean these powers no longer need to be linked to existing development plans which will allow local planning authorities to implement LDOs with greater speed and flexibility.

2. Standard 'interim-use' leases - landlords need to be assured that there is a proper legal basis for any temporary uses and that they will be able to take the empty premises back as soon commercially viable. To help minimise the cost of setting up such arrangements, Government will create specimen legal documents that landlords can use for temporary occupiers.

3. Temporary leasing of shops to councils - Not all landlords will want to lease to temporary occupiers. In these cases local Councils can step in as an intermediary and agree new temporary, or "meanwhile", leases that enables the Council use the property by granting an interim licence to a local group for community uses.  

4. The Government's 'Real Help for Business now' (external link) plan offers free business health checks, skills training, a £20b working capital scheme and an aim to pay Government suppliers within 10 days. 70 per cent of all properties will now be exempted from empty property rates and businesses can also defer 60 per cent of next year's rate increase and transitional relief increase to the following two years.

5. Town centre planning rules already give council the power to refuse a new development that might harm the high street. Local planning and licensing powers can also limit a particular type of shop in a town to prevent too much of the same business or unwanted nightlife.

6. Local Business can agree with councils to establish Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) using ring fenced business rates to improve the business environment of the town centre. 71 BIDs have been established since 2004.

7. The £100m Local Enterprise Growth Initiative is stimulating enterprise in twenty deprived local areas.

8. Landlords are already expected to sign up to an industry code that encourages them to offer shorter term leases and alternatives to upward-only rent review clauses. A step-by-step 'occupier's guide' helps tenants navigate the leasing process.

9. Full details of Looking after our Town Centres guide can be found at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/towncentres.

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